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newbie question about contexts vs. projects
supenguin | Jul 25 2007
I've read "Getting Things Done" twice and not done much with it but I've finally got a hold of a copy of "Getting Things Done - Fast" audio program and am moving more toward a GTD system for tracking my projects. I've got a couple questions... First off, I find that paper is easier for me than electronic. I am a computer programmer, so many of my tasks are in front of the computer, but the computer seems to just get in the way when it comes to managing my todo list. Come to think of it, the computer seems to get in the way of just about everything except checking email, surfing the web, and programming. With that in mind, I've run into some issues and questions with paper. When I write down a project, I try to do one project per page, and then list out the next actions to complete the project. It then seems like I would need to go through all my project lists onto my context lists. Is there a better way to do this than going through all my projects and put all the @phone actions on my @phone list? Also, I know David Allen is opposed to daily todo lists, but I find having a big list of stuff to do overwhelms me... If I put 3 - 5 things todo on a list, do them, and then repeat I seem to get more done. Anyone else find this? Is there a good way of doing this with GTD? I also find that I do like the searchability (if that's a word) of keeping things in electronic format but like I said feel better working with paper. So what's the solution? Two systems? Copy important stuff over from paper into my electronic system? 7 Comments
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 thanksSubmitted by supenguin on July 28, 2007 - 9:03pm.
Thanks for the help everyone. Berko: I got to the part of the GTD - Fast program where David Allen talks about just throwing next actions directly on the context lists soon after I posted my question. I guess one of my hangups was how do you know which actions go with which projects? That seems to be keeping stuff in your head, which is a big no-no in GTD. Although, as I think about it something on your Next Action list shouldn't live there for long, and the outcome (if important) will live on in that project's planning or reference material. So, yes, your answer does make sense. jason: the cross-references on paper sound like WAY too much work! I like Berko's idea better. My @work context would be @work-computer 99% of the time. I'm thinking of keeping my contexts very simple: @work, @home, and @errands. If I need any more, I can add them later, right? cornell: Oops. I think I was getting project planning mixed in with my project list. Just having a list at all would be great to get a big picture view of what I've got on my plate. What happens if you don't know the next actions for a project? Toss it on the someday/maybe list and figure it out at your next weekly review? I've also done the big text file kind of thing... I've only used it at work or looking for a job. In either case, I keep track of every thing I've done. At work, it is a chronological list of everything I've done. This is extremely valuable for a computer programmer. "Feature X in the program hasn't been working since Friday. " "Oh, they upgraded the servers on Friday. Let's see what went wrong." It was also incredibly value for job hunting: who I talked to where. I actually used some very basic formating for that. Bold is places I'm waiting to hear back from, italics means places I don't care about any more. » POSTED IN:
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